So I just started tying. I'm slowly getting the hang of it, and my flies are improving, but when I try a new technique for the first time I'll end up with a horribly disfigured fly or two until I get the technique down. I call these flies "Frankenflies"

So, I would think all of you tiers have progressed through this learning curve at one time or another, and tied your share of frankenflies. What did you do with them? Toss them or spend some time fishing them? I always wonder whether my outrageous frankenfly could be imitating some biologic in some unknown way and be a hit. Anybody ever have success with their failures?

Save a couple so you can see your progression, but toss most. If you are like me soon you will have thousands of flies - 99% of which you never use. Practice is just part of the learning curve and many early attempts end up in the trash.

Therefore, I don't save those flies I'm not happy with. However, in the future it will be cool to pull out a fly you tied years ago to see how far you have come.

You may strike it rich with a "trashed" pattern. But overall I have found with all the tiers in the world over the last 2000 years good practice in fly tying is fairly well established - even though there is always room for style and innovation. However, it is hard to beat many of the battle tested veterans. That said, every tier secretly wishes to come up with the next hot fly that outfishes all of his buddies' flies.

That's definitely not cheap - that's smart. I always keep a sharp single edge razor blade at my tying table used primarily for stripping off old flies where a deer hair wing or palmered hackle had failed during fishing. Strip it, tie up a new one and restock your box.

Cut them off and try again. Never fish a fly you think is less than "perfect." You have to have confidence in your flys. Also, you want to be able to consistently replicate the pattern. If you fish random mistakes they might work, may even be better than the pattern you were trying to match, but it you can't replicate it your sunk. Master the pattern, then experiment. Mike.

This is where a cauterizing pen comes in handy. Just heat and run down the back of the hook. everything singes right off. Faster than a razor blade.

For me, it depends on how bad the fly is. There are some i'll keep and fish (and some do work!) but others I'll just throw into a tin that is full of garbage that I know I'll eventually sit down and strip down one day to get hooks/beads back.

I just went through a box of the first flies I ever tied, they are funniest looking things I have ever seen. I tossed them, im not much or a hoarder if I dont use something. Some will reuse hooks, stripping hooks is cumbersome to me.